Youth Ministry Track

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Youth Ministry

Between the ages of 8-18, lots of beliefs and habits are created and formed. These lead to decisions that affect the career, family and life trajectories of the youngest generation. Parents play the most important role in mentoring and caring for youth in these formative years. However, there is also a great opportunity for those gifted in youth ministry to have a huge impact in helping to teach and shape the emerging generation.

96% of the world's full-time youth ministry workers are in the United States, even though we have less than 5% of the world's youth population. The placements in this track are ways that you can invest your background, training and passion for youth into the lives of those with the least access to the gospel.

Current placements

Malawi hosts over 30,000 refugees and asylum seekers originating mostly from Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Ethiopia. Some of these are the children and grandchildren of people who fled conflicts as far back as the 1970s, living in other refugee camps before moving to Malawi in search of better opportunities. Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi is home to mostly second and third generation refugees, who have never known life outside of a refugee camp.

Mzamomhle is a geographically small township in South Africa. Although small in size, it is comprised of around 40,000 people, most of whom live in one-room cinder block homes with an outhouse or shacks. 80% of residents are unemployed. Education is poor, and schools are under staffed. The HIV and AIDs rate is said to be one of the highest in South Africa, with TB and other sicknesses with very high rates as well. Teen pregnancy rates are very high, along with extremely high crime rates.

As the heart of one Northeast African nation, this city is a vibrant, exhilarating, exotic, fascinating and welcoming place. In this home to some of the most ancient civilizations in the world, incredible, half-forgotten monuments are easy to stumble across. One force has shaped this city and nation more than anything else in the last thousand years - the religion of Islam. As the cries for change have echoed across the Arab world, the discontent lying under the surface has become clear. Yet in reality, people need Jesus more than a political revolution.

Magnificent church buildings occupy places of prominence all throughout the city of Budapest. The central location of church buildings in the major squares of the city is reminiscent of an era in which the institution of the church played a significant role in the life of the city, regularly exerting its influence over many aspects of daily life. But times have changed, and the Budapest of today bears the scars of a godless, communist past while ushering in the reality of a post-Christian present.

With Germany located in the center of Europe and the expanding European Union, the capital city of Berlin plays a strategic role in the Eurasian continent and even world. This vibrant German city is home to 3.5 million people from over 180 nations and boasts a rich history, lively creative arts and fashion scene, academic depth and unique blend of old world and contemporary culture from around the globe.

The Yanesha people live in over 40 communities in the central Amazon Jungle of Peru. Although these tribal peoples were reached with the gospel by Wycliffe in the 60s, the spiritual awakening has since faded, and the churches are small and elderly. The youth are connecting with the outside world, and even though they may not have electricity, they all know what Facebook is. The churches have little to offer or attract them. Our prayer is that the church would not die with the its founders.

This tiny speck of a country packs a big punch. What it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in beauty, especially geological oddities. Although this region is one of the hottest, most barren areas of the world, few countries offer such unusual landscapes – think salt lakes, extinct volcanoes, sunken plains, limestone chimneys, basaltic plateaus and majestic canyons. Outside of the capital city, the country is refreshingly devoid of large-scale development. Goers who love outdoor adventure will find plentiful options for superb hiking, diving, kite-surfing, and snorkeling.